Introduction

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 6. We’re looking tonight at the flood back in the time of Noah. While you are turning there, let me give a quick disclaimer about what we’re not getting into this evening. For some in this room, this whole account raises a host of historical and scientific questions, such that you aren’t even convinced it happened at all.

Where did all of the water come from to cover the entire earth? Where did all the water go?
How could Noah have fit all the animals on the ark, and how could he have taken care of them?

If you have questions like that, that’s OK. What is not OK, however, is to assume that those questions have no answers and then to stand in judgment over God’s word. If you have doubts about the reliability of the Bible, please reach out to us. Our commitment to you as leaders is to help you get those answers and walk with you through that process. But tonight, because of limits of time, that’s not our focus; we want to take a look at the big picture of what’s going on here in this account. Starting at verse 11….

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (Genesis 6:11–13)

The problem

In the church, we tend to kind of sanitize what’s going here with the flood. It’s a favorite children’s story. We have our cute Vacation Bible School songs, “The Lord said to Noah, there’s going to be a flood-y, flood-y…” And then in the pictures you have the little ark with the cute giraffe heads sticking out of the top, calmly sitting atop a placid sea. And it all seems so … quaint.

But if we’re dialed in to what’s going on here, the account of the flood can be really confusing and disturbing if we’re honest. Think about what happened here. God decreed the annihilation of the entire human population except for eight people. That should be—at some level—disturbing to all of us. It can call into question our understanding of God’s character. We often focus—rightly—on the love and goodness and patience of God. So when we come to an account like this and it is like, “What happened?” Did God just lose it, and in a momentary lapse of character go off in an emotional, uncontrolled rage? In fact, you will hear exactly that argument being made by many atheist writers (Richard Dawkins, etc.) who oppose the God of the Bible.

How do we answer that?

What I hope to communicate tonight is that the flood reveals a more complete picture both of who we are as humans, and who God is—things maybe we don’t like to think too much about. And if we can wrap our heads around those things, it will help us make sense, not only of this account, but also our proper place before a holy God.

More complete view of ourselves

In March of 2016, filming started for a new reality TV series called Eden. The premise was: 23 participants with a variety of skills (hunters, gardeners, carpenters, doctors, etc.) were to live for one year—completely isolated—in a remote part of Scotland. So if you’ve seen Survivor—what are we up to now, season 92?—basically nothing like that at all. Survivor is a scripted series. There is lots of producer involvement to create just the right marketable value of tension, romantic interest, drama, heroics, etc. It’s a controlled environment designed to be entertaining.

Eden was different—the participants were completely on their own. As you can tell by the name (“Eden”), the expectation was that the series would document their building of a new, self-sufficient community. What was supposed to happen was that, in the purity and simplicity of being separated from all of the oppressive rules of society and the trappings of the modern world, they were going to overcome obstacles together, build a community, and thrive. That’s what was supposed to happen.

What actually happened was what several participants described as “absolute hell”.

Very quickly, the stronger bullied the weaker.
Divisions developed, the most hostile along lines of gender.
Some individuals splintered off to live on their own.
Effort was invested in ways of brewing alcohol rather than food production.
Cooperation for basic survival broke down and as a result, severe hunger set in.
That hunger was used as leverage for the stronger to exploit the weaker and try to “starve them out” of the camp.

If the cameras were not there, I’m sure it would have gotten much, much worse. In the end, the show was cancelled after a few episodes, but the footage was used for a five-part documentary of sorts rebranded “Eden: Paradise Lost”. The producers acknowledged, “I don’t think anyone expected it to go as feral and dark as it did.”

That outcome should not surprise any of us who have been following along in Genesis and listening to what the Bible says about human nature. From the very beginning we’ve been in rebellion against God, and that rebellion shatters our relationship with God and each another. The first son murdered his brother. We skipped a few chapters between last week and the flood, but there you will find accounts of arrogance, male chauvinism, pride, and sexual deviance.

And it’s not just back then. None of us need convincing this week that we live in a world in rebellion against God. The mass shooting in Los Angeles is a grim reminder of that. And that barely made the news before people from both sides were exploiting the situation to win political points, sowing more discord. The brokenness and drama is all around us. To some degree, we all experience it.

And yet, if you ask, most people will say that they are basically good. How can that be? Well, usually because we have a scale with Adolf Hitler on one side and ourselves on the other. “At least I’ve never killed anyone,” we can say. But what did we read in the passage tonight? God saw that “every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil.” It isn’t just our external actions by which God judges us, but every thought and motivation.

Here’s the bad news. When we rebelled against God in the garden, that act of rebellion brought a curse upon all humans such that we are completely corrupted. That doesn’t mean that we are as evil as we can possibly be (even Adolf Hitler probably loved his mom), but rather that there is no part of our being that is immune to brokenness—sin corrupts our actions, our words, our thoughts, our ambition. Even in our best moments our actions are tinged with selfish motivation. We do good deeds so we look good in front of others, or we are hoping to get something in return.

And that brokenness inflicts destruction upon our relationships with one another. But when that level of corruption comes before a perfectly holy God, things reach a whole new level of serious.

More complete view of who God is

God is a God of love and goodness, but the account of the flood is reminding us that he’s also a God of justice. And we often think about it exactly the way I’ve drawn it here—that these traits are opposed to one another. So our understanding of God can be that He’s kind of schizophrenic and moody.

But think this through with me. Some of you have pets. And you love your pets, right? You want what is good for your pet. So what if you catch wind that your neighbor is hatching a plot to poison your pet? You would be rightly upset—angry—and want to see that neighbor brought to justice. And that sense of justice is not despite your sense of love and goodness but precisely because of it, right? A sense of love and goodness demands a sense of justice.

We can understand that for pets. How much more at a human level? If someone comes with intent to harm my wife or my children, my sense of love and goodness is not going to cause me to be like, “Oh well; kum ba yah.”

So we can understand as humans. But remember, we ourselves are broken, and have a warped sense of right and wrong. Mixed in with our sense of love and goodness is pride, jealousy, etc. So how much more then, for a God who is completely perfect in love, absolutely holy, with no darkness whatsoever, does His love require that He also be a God of perfectly righteous justice? He cannot just wink at our rebellion. Justice must be done.

Justice vs. grace

And so when you have an absolutely holy God, perfect in love, perfectly good, perfectly just, dealing with beings that are completely corrupt, then the question becomes not so much what happened with the flood but why isn’t that the norm? The reason that the flood is so shocking to us is because in our normal lives day after day and year after year, God is treating us not as we deserve, but rather with grace. And we get so used to this grace that we come to feel entitled to it.

My favorite illustration of the difference between justice and grace comes from a famous Bible college professor, guy by the name of R.C Sproul. So I’m going to borrow his story tonight.¹

He’s teaching a class for college freshmen, and as part of that class he states, “There will be three essay papers due, five pages, each, one on September 30, one October 30, and one November 30. Make sure you have your paper turned in on or before that date because if you do not, you will receive an immediate F.” He asks if they understand and everyone agrees.

So September 30 rolls around and out of 250 students, 225 of them have their papers in on time but around 25 do not. And they start pleading, “Please don’t give us an F on this paper. College is so much more stressful than high school. We didn’t budget our time properly. Please just give us a few more days to get our paper done.” And the professor agrees. “Just this one time; don’t let it happen again.”

So October 30 rolls around and now there are about 50 students who fail to turn in their papers on time. “Where are your papers?” he asks. And they being to make excuses, “We were just so busy with midterms; it was homecoming week. Please just one more chance.” And again, he agrees, and gives them a few more days. And the students are singing his praises and he’s the most popular professor on campus now.

Well you can imagine what happens come November 30. About 100 students fail to turn in their papers on the due date. But there’s a lack of fear now. “Don’t worry about it, Professor. We’ll have it in a couple of days.”

So he grabs his grade book and starts making notes. “Sam, do you have your paper?” “No,” Sam says. “F,” the professor says and writes that in the book. This repeats with several students.

And someone in the back of the room yells out, “That’s not fair!” And the professor turns around and asks, “Miller, was that you who said that?” “Yeah,” the student says, “it’s not fair.”

“OK,” the professor says. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. If it is fairness you want, it is fairness you will get. If you want justice, I can give you justice. I said at the beginning of this class that if you didn’t have your paper in by the due date you would receive an ‘F’ and you all agreed. So, Miller, do you have your paper? No? ‘F’.’ And as I recall, you didn’t have your paper on time last month either, correct? So, since you want what is fair, I’m going to go ahead and change that grade to an ‘F’ as well.”

When he did that, there was a gasp in the room. He asked, “Who else wants justice?” There were no takers.

When it comes to your standing before God, you do not want justice. You do not want what is fair. You want grace. If God treats me as I deserve, I will bear the full weight of His righteous anger at every sin I’ve committed, every good deed I have failed to do, every hurtful word I have said, every lustful thought I have had, every selfish ambition and motivation. The flood is what justice looks like.

But look, in the midst of the flood of justice, there’s the ark. God provides a means by which Noah and his family are spared. The flood is a picture of justice; the ark is a picture of grace. The ark is a not-at-all subtle picture of what’s available to us in Jesus. We said before that because God is perfectly holy and loving and good, He cannot simply wink at sin and ignore it. Justice has to be done. But the good news is that I don’t have to bear that justice. You don’t have to bear that justice.

In God’s plan, Jesus was sent to earth, He lived a perfect life of obedience in action, thought, and motivation. And then he was killed on the cross, not for his own sins, but to pay the penalty for our sins—to bear the justice of God. And our responsibility is to believe—to have faith—just like Noah. It must have seemed a little odd to Noah to build a giant boat in the middle of land. But he believed God, he had faith, and his faith demonstrated itself in obedience and spared him from the flood. And it is exactly the same for us. We may not understand how Christ’s death on the cross satisfies the justice of God, but we are called to believe it, to trust God, and to live in obedience. And that’s grace.

Discussion questions for leaders

Read Genesis 6:5-22.

What was it about humans that grieved God (verses 5, 11-13)? What is significant about this? How might that differ from what our students might think makes us “good” or “bad”?
What does God resolve to do because of man’s wickedness? Is this “fair”?
Why was Noah treated differently? Is this “fair”?
Why do you think the instructions to Noah are so specific? What point is God making?

Read Genesis 8:20-22.

After the flood, has the fundamental nature of man changed? What is different about God’s future intention?

Read Genesis 9:1-11.

What is significant about the command in 9:1, 7 to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”?
What difference between animals and humans is established in verses 3-6? What is the basis God gives for this distinction? How is that truth significant to us and our students?
Where do we see God’s grace in the account of the Flood?

Discussion questions for students

Read Genesis 6:5-9.

On what basis does God judge human wickedness in verse 5? Is it just by our external actions, or something else?
Have you ever done something “good” from improper / selfish motives?
Does the truth that God knows our every thought and motivation cause you comfort or fear? Why?
What does God decide to do because of human wickedness on the earth at this time?

Read Genesis 6:13-22.

How do you think you would have reacted if you had been told spend 120 years (6:3) building a boat far away from any body of water? Why?
Why do you think the instructions to Noah are so specific? What point is God making?
How does Noah respond in verse 22 to God’s instructions? What is the connection between that obedience, the “favor in the eyes of the Lord” that Noah found (v.8), and his character as “righteous” (v.9)?

Quickly summarize chapters 7-8, then read Genesis 9:1-11.

What promise does God make concerning mankind after the flood? Do you think this is because man is going to be better from now on, or is it something else?
Where all do you see God’s grace in this account?
What are the similarities between the ark and Jesus? How can we be saved from God’s justice at the end of history?

What follows is a paraphrase, shortened for time sake, of Dr. Sproul’s original account, which can be found at ligonier.org/posts/inalienable-right-grace. ↩